Subluminal and superluminal pulse propagation in inhomogeneous media of nonspherical particles

We study the pulse propagation through a metal/dielectric composites of nonspherical particles enclosed by two gold mirrors. To account for the shape effect, we first adopt Maxwell-Garnett type approximation to obtain the effective dielectric function of composites. Based on the group index, phase time and pulse shape calculations, we find that the particles' shape (characterized by the depolarization factor) plays an important role in determining the subluminal and superluminal pulse propagations through the system. When the inclusions' shape is not spherical, it is possible to observe significant superluminal behavior of the pulse propagation, although the volume fraction is the same. The shape-dependent critical volume fraction is predicted, above which superluminal propagation appears. Furthermore, the Hartman effect in such a system is also investigated.